The t-Abyss virus (Tyrant-Abyss virus) was a weaponized marine virus developed by a team of researchers after combining a viral fish pathogen known as The Abyss virus with a gene from the weaponized t-virus. It was not much of a threat alone, but it posed a great threat to the world if it were ever leaked into the ocean and displayed how easy it had become to develop viruses that could mutate across species, now able to create B.O.W.s from marine creatures while also give land-based creatures aquatic attributes. All traces of the virus were neutralized in 2005, however a sample was secretly recovered by TRICELL spies.
History
Creation (Date: Unknown)
In 2004, a team of scientists at the University of Montpellier marine laboratory carried out a fourth deep-sea investigation in the Kermadec Trench via an unmanned submersible exploration vessel. At 9000 meters, a new species of super deep-sea predatory fish was discovered. While this fish was in a high water pressure environment, which has a huge influence on creatures, it had unbelievably high swimming ability, phenomenal vitality and possessed specific features that made it ferocious. As a result of the team's research analysis, the cause of its unique attributes was not peculiar to the fish itself, and it was concluded that a new kind of viral fish pathogen was discovered. The virus was secretly given an "unfathomable" name, The Abyss, and the team decided to secretly continue research. 1
When the gene analysis of the The Abyss neared completion, a research institute of the pharmaceutical division of TRICELL offered their cooperation through the FBC (Federal Bioterrorism Commission), whose leader Morgan Lansdale was one of their advisors. Lansdale supplied them with the luxury cruise ship Queen Zenobia as a research base, while TRICELL suggested a development experiment for an improved virus strain, the incorporation of the t-virus developed by the Umbrella Corporation into The Abyss. Based on this suggestion, the research team incorporated a resequenced t-virus gene into The Abyss. The t-virus gene enabled infection between different species to all organisms, including humans. However, the speed at which The Abyss triggered transformation was so rapid that it broke down the cellular structure of a host. This problem was resolved by resolutely suppressing the activity of the virus in the early stages of infection, enabling it to adapt to a host over time. 2
An unexpected by-product of this solution was also produced. Although cellular breakdown was avoided, the flesh of infected individuals would partially liquefy and even bone tissue would mutate. Thus, an infected subject would gain characteristically soft flesh and be able to attack a target like a phantom from small gaps. Furthermore, when the bone composition began to melt and flowed into the outer skin, limbs hardened, and another type of host in which they turned into sharp weapons was confirmed. Due to this characteristic, human subjects infected with the virus were named "Ooze." This new virus was named "t-Abyss" and made it easier to create marine-based Bio Organic Weapons, an area where the t-virus was particularly weak, pioneering a new field in marine viral weapons. 3
Completion (2004)
Completion of the virus approached through infection experiments on test subjects. However, in the biological weapons business, if there was no development of a vaccine made as a pair with a virus, it was imperfect as a product. For that purpose, a large amount of clinical data is required in order to create a vaccine. It was left to luck to find anti-bodies from the small number of sample experiments, and it took a lot of time. Meanwhile, they continued research in order to make the virus more powerful.
Despite their attempts, the leaders determined that they needed an artificial pandemic involving the virus which would provide a large amount of data. As such, FBC Commissioner Morgan Lansdale supplied eight samples of the completed virus to the terrorist group "Il Veltro" and inspired them to launch a large-scale bioterrorism attack on Terragrigia, where the FBC would be able to take full control over handling the situation and allow the t-Abyss researchers to gather the data they needed.
Vaccine (2005)
After Terragrigia was eradicated, t-Abyss was spread on the Queen Zenobia and its sister ships to kill the remaining members of Veltro. The Queen Zenobia then became the only site where the research team could continue observing its mutation and infection progress, and they established a temporary research base. In 2005, progress observation of the virus went smoothly and a vaccine was successfully developed. Its research data was sent to Lansdale, who promptly locked down the ship and released each B.O.W. in order to kill the research team. 4 Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine of the BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) successfully neutralized t-Abyss to prevent it from leaking into the ocean. At the same time, a TRICELL spy named Raymond Vester secretly retrieved a sample of the virus for the company.
Attributes
Most of t-Abyss' characteristics were inherited from The Abyss, including its infectious capacity and effects on marine creatures. The main characteristic inherited from the t-virus was the ability to infect almost any living organism, which was initially a trait inherited from the Progenitor virus. The primary attribute which set t-Abyss apart from similar viruses was its ability to create effective mutations of marine creatures that enabled their use as weapons, pioneering a new field of marine viral weapons. Before its development, the t-virus had been tested on marine creatures in the past, but many of the results were unsatisfactory. By comparison, land-based creatures proved far more adaptable and effective.
If effective marine-based weapons could be produced, it would spread the activity zone of B.O.W.s spread by leaps and bounds. Its research data predicted that if a fixed quantity of the concentrated virus solution were released into the sea, all marine life, including bacteria which live on the peripheral, would repeat a chain of infection that would contaminate an entire ocean within a short time. The sea being contaminated by t-Abyss would cause the ecosystem to change completely with unimaginable damage to the human race and the entire global environment.